Demooratic Wada.
BY P. GRAY MEEK.
——
Ink Slings.
——If you get the grip. nurse it.
grip gets you, curse it.
It is beginning to look as if Uncle SAM
will pull down his VEST, rather than the
flag over the Philippines.
—The fellows who were first to kick
about the Chicago platform of '96 are on
deck with suggestions for 1900.
—The Supreme court did not grant
QUAY’s certiorari. The question now is:
Will the Legislature grant his Senatorship ?
—Embalmed beef, bewhiskered beef, and
beef that was putrid and blue, all went in
to make the tin on which the army contract-
or grew.
—The thirteen persons who were killed
in that Lehigh Valley R. R. collision, on
Monday, scarcely had time to think
whether thirteen was unlucky or not.
If the
—Lor’s wife was the first example of a
‘‘rubber neck’’ and behold, the awful fate
she met. Some of the people who are al-
ways ‘‘rubberin’’ might be interested in her
case.
——No more able Pennsylvanian could
be sent to the United States Senate than
GEORGE A. JENKS and surely there is no
place in which an able man would be a
greater credit to the State.
—It will take more fluid than was used
in embalming that army beef to keep AL-
GER'’s political corpse in any kind of pres-
ervation, when he once gets out of the war
department.
—The latest from Dawson, the capital of
the Klondyke, is to the effect that food is
plenty, ‘‘but it takes money to buy it.”’
Isn’t it strange that anyone should have
the audacity to charge for food.
—FRANK CROKER, a son of the Tam-
many chieftain over in New York, is going
to establish a business for manufacturing
steel skeletons for ‘‘sky-scrapers.”” What
he had better do is make asbestos suits for
Gothamites, there will he more of them
needed.
—We are already having a taste of what
it will be to govern those Filipinos. Two
privates of the Sixth U. S. artillery were
killed hy natives of the crew of the gun-
boat Newport on Saturday. And these are
the dear people that we are to take under
our wing.
—General BROOKE has been ordered to
furnish work for every able bodied Cuban
who applies. A fair rate of wages is to be
paid. How many thousands of able-bodied
Pennsylvanians who are looking for work,
to-day, with starvation facing them, would
fain be Cubans?
—AGUINALDO, the Philippine insurgent
chief, is calling upon the deity to witness
that if the Americans don’t leave those isl-
ands their blood will be upon their own
heads. AGUINALDO is all right, except he
mistakes whose head the blood will be on,
if he attempts to get gay.
—Notwithstanding the efforts of secre-
tary ALGER to humiliate him Gen’l.
MirLEs will live in the minds of our people
long after the Michigander has been lost in
oblivion. We forgive MILES for his ill-
advised talk abroad because he has been a
man and a soldier at home.
——Those who are speaking slightingly
of the late CALVIN BRICE because his sup-
posed fortune of ten million has dwindled
to six hundred thousand dollars, evidently
have’nt met the man who writes this col-
umn. Why a man worth six dollars is a
veritable Creesus in our eye.
—The recent advance of $2 a ton on
wire and wire nails is the first effect that
the country has felt of the newly organized
wire trust, with a capital of $90,000,000.
This combination of wire makers to rob the
people will last for awhile, then bust, just
like QUAY’S combination of wire pullers,
who have robbed the State, is busting now.
—Not five years ago the Republicans
everywhere were blowing themselves pur-
ple in the face trying to create the impres-
sion that Democratic policy was to reduce
‘‘the wages of American labor to a level
with those of pauper England.” United
States consul HALSTEAD, at Birmingham,
has just reported that American makers of
bolts and nuts are going from $10 to $20 a
ton less that British prices and these same
blatherskites call this prosperity now.
——Governor PINGREE, of Michigan, is
no common potato. He tells the people of
his own State that railroads should come
under the operation of the general tax laws
and not be assessed on their gross earnings,
that there should be a moderate tax on in-
comes of over $1,000 per annum, that all
candidates for elective officers should be
nominated by direct vote of the people and
that we have no business with the Philip-
pines.
—The Doylestown Democrat favors a
civil pension roll, which we view as one of
the greatest impositions that has ever been
proposed. Why has the government any
more right to take care of its superannuated
employees than it has to provide for any
other wornout individual. If the editor
of the Democrat should be improvident and
wasteful now, when he should be saving
against the time when he will be unable to
earn anything by reason of being worn out,
is that a sufficient cause for levying a tax
on all other men to keep him when he gets
old and has nothing left? The govern-
ment pays its clerks good salaries, far more
than many of them could earn were they
compelled to seek work elsewhere, and it
is wrong to propose that it should puta
premium on improvidence by establishing
a civil pension list.
VOL. 44
BELLEFO
STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL UNION.
NTE, PA., JANUARY 13, 1899.
NO. 2.
An Important Duty.
One of the most important duties that
devolves upon every good citizen of a com-
munity is active participation in the local
government. Whether he be a citizen of
city, town or township the character and
qualifications of every aspirant for office
therein should be carefully looked into and
if short-comings are discovered such an one
should not be permitted to have a place on
the ticket.
The spring elections will be held on
Tuesday, February 21st. As it is neces-
sary to file certificates of nomination with
the county commissioners at least eighteen
days before the election the last day will
be Friday, February 3rd. This will
necessitate the holding of primary elec-
tions on Saturday, January 28th, and the
precinct caucuses prior to this last men-
tioned date.
Local elections are the ones that most
directly affect the people and are the ones
in which everyone is concerned, therefore,
bear in mind the necessity of nominating
only efficient men for the various offices to
be filled. Be careful that intelligent elec-
tion boards are secured. Choose men who
are not apt to be bigoted nor too partisan
to give fair consideration to all questions
presented to them. For your school di-
rectors, supervisors, overseers, councilmen
and other official nominees none but prac-
tical, progressive men should be favored.
Don’t put a man on the ticket merely to
tickle him. But be sure that he will faith-
fully and promptly attend to the duties of
his office, if elected, before you select him
as your candidate.
One of the most important things to any
party organization is that every member
should take an interest in the primaries.
That is the time for the individual to ex-
press his preference. Don’t wait until a
few in your precinct, who have enough in-
terest to attend the primaries, make up
the ticket and then kick at it because it
doesn’t satisfy you. Take a hand in the
work yourself. Let every one have a voice in
the matter and the harmony that will pre-
vail afterwards will surprise you.
More of the sores that fester and destroy
the strength of any pelitical organization
can be traced to spring election fights than
to any other cause. A Next fall we will have
a full county ticket to elect and it is im-
portant that the party be in the most har-
monious condition. We are recovering
from the recent sloughing off in our ranks
that was occasioned by just such causes.
Let us be careful that the baneful effects
are not suffered again.
——While the decision of the Supreme
court judges to send the QUAY case back
to the Philadelphia county court for trial
in no way affects the guilt or innocence of
MATTHEW STANLEY QUAY, his son RICH-
ARD and former State Treasurer BENJA-
MIN J. HAyYwooD it will, nevertheless,
convey the impression to the public mind
that that high tribunal has recognized
something in the case that should be in-
vestigated.
Must the Christmas Tree Go.
The question of cutting the hemlock
trees for celebrating the christmas festival
is one that has been agitating the minds of
the forestry commissioners for some time,
but not until recently have they become
outspoken in their denunciation of the
practice. It has been estimated that more
than twenty million of the most symmetric-
al young trees in the land were destroyed
last month, merely to gratify a fad of a
few day’s duration. This vast number, if
anything, is short of the actual amount cut
and it will readily be seen that the christ-
mas tree business is making almost as
disastrous inroads among the young forests
as the lumber business is making with the
older timber.
Of course those who are calling atten-
tion to this great destructive agency, that
has probably rarely been thought of by the
masses, deplore the eventual necessity of
‘doing away with christmas trees, but they
are compelled to take the position they do
from a humanitarian standpoint. The
falling of every tree has its effect on the
soil and streams and crops and climatic
conditions in the vicinity in which it
stood. And it is an appreciable loss to any
section to have its wooded areas cleared
off. More destructive and sudden floods,
more frequent and longer droughts, and
more devastation from wind storms are
direct results of forest destruction.
The christmas tree business is doing its
share toward bringing about such unfavor-
able results and is likely to continue to do
s0, unless the school children of the land take
to planting christmas trees on Arbor day
or some inventive toy man gets up a fair
substitute for Nature’s contribution to’the
pretty German legend.
No one would care to rob the little folks
of one tithe of the pleasure that is their’s
during the holiday season, but here is a
grave question confronting us. One that
will effect the coming generation more
seriously that it has the present.
A Dead-Lock Would Not Help Quay.
There may be a dead-lock in the elec-
tion of a United States Senator, as the
friends of Senator QUAY, who now begin
to realize the chances of his defeat, threat-
en, but there will be no oppointment for
him to that position by the Governor
should the Legislature adjourn without
choosing his successor. A dead-lock con-
tinuing throughout the session, and pre-
venting an election, would not give the
power of appointing a Senator to Senator
QUAY’s Governor, it would simply leave
the position vacant and the State with but
one Representative in the United States
Senate, until at an other meeting of the
same, or of a subsequent Legislature, a
Senator could be duly chosen.
It is only when a vacancy occurs during
a recess of the Legislature that the consti-
tution of the United States recognizes the
the power of the Governor to appoint a
United States Senator, and then that ap-
pointment lasts only until the meeting of
the Legislature. In this State the power
to choose a Senator is vested solely, by the
constitution, in the Legislature, and the
only authority the Governor has in the
matter is to call the Legislature together
to fill any vacancy that may occur in of-
fice during the recess of the Legislature.
So that the hope expressed, by those who
neither read nor care for either the state or
federal constitution, that by preventing
an election by the Legislature would be
giving the power to the Governor to ap-
point, is a hope without foundation and an
expectation not to be realized.
The ‘‘old man,’”’ as those who admire
him affectionately call Senator QUAY, may
be able to trick the public and individuals
but he will not fool the constitution to any
conceivable extent. It compels him to take
his chances before the Representatives of
the people or get out of the race. His
Governor may be able to assist him to the
extent that such patrorage as he bas will
influence votes, but no further. The Unit-
ed States Senator, thanks to both state and
federal constitution, is not the creature of
a state executive, but the representative of
the people. He cannot be sneaked into of-
fice, nor will an effort to prevent an elec-
tion by creating a dead-lock avail anything
in the way of securing his success. hr ¥
Such a termination might be a desirable
ending, in case the opposition to the boss
and his methods are unable to find a suit-
able candidate upon whom they can unite.
It would, for the time at least, prevent the
State from being mis-represented, until the
people could elect a new body of Represen-
tatives, but it would in no way or manner
redound to the advantage of Senator
QUAY.
At the Bottom of the Army Bill.
The great corporate interests of the coun-
try are preparing for future contingences in
a manner the masses little conceive of or
imagine. It is their interests that are back
of the increased army bill and it is their
interests that will push that bill through,
under the plea that it is necessary for the
proper control of the territory we have tak-
en from Spain, when, 1n faci, an increased
army to do their bidding here at home is
what they are after. Eversince the Chica-
go riots, when the United States army was
used to enforce the dictum of the Pullman
car company, and compel its employees to
submit to such exactions as its interests de-
manded, other corporations and monopo-
lies have seen safety in the same power,
and have been preparing the country for a
change of system that would leave us to
rely upon the strong arm of the federal
government for the suppression of strikes,
riots and other outbreaks that grow out of
the oppression of labor.
It is to use the army for this purpose that
these interests now so clamorously demand
its permanent enlargement. They pay but
little of the taxes that are drawn from the
public to maintain it, and because it costs
them nothing and can be used to their ad-
vantage every corporate interest in the
country is urging upon Congress the neces-
sity of such legislation as will double the
present number of regulars and fasten up-
on the country, for all time, an immense
standing army.
The people who pay the taxes are the
ones who should protest against this
movement. It may not be dangerous
for a few years, but it will always be
expensive. The laboring people, par-
ticularly, should speak out against it; it
is designed almost exclusively as the arbiter
of disagreements between them and the cor-
porations employing them, and every one
knows how such disagreements will end,
when turned over to the tender mercies of
a standing army.
——The Howard Post and Bulletin is the
latest proposition that has been launched
in rivalry with FRED DuNHAM’s Howard
Hustler. The new paper made its debut on
Friday and in its salutatory is very modest
in stating what it proposes to do with
Howard and the lower end of Bald Eagle.
While we wish it success we are afraid that
journalism in Centre county is getting to
be a little like the insurance business—
slightly overdone.
som
The Ripening Crop of Treuble.
From present appearances some of the
fruits of the policy of expansion may be
gathered at a much earlier day than was
anticipated. If there is any reliance to be
placed in the news from that far away lo-
cality, every American flag that is hoisted
in the Philippine islands, outside of the
towns of Manila and Cavite, will be run
up only after we have conquered the peo-
ple and make subjects of those who, if fit
for government at all, should be allowed
the kind they make for themselves. No
where, as yet, in all the fourteen hundred
islands that constitute the Philippine
group, except the two places named, do we
have a foothold or a resting place, and no
where will the natives, who are up in arms,
allow the landing of the American troops
or the planting of the American flag, with-
out a struggle. :
We have Manila and Cavite, two town
the Spaniards surrendered to us. For these
we have paid dearly in the lives of the
brave men who fell in battle and those
who have died from disease, while trying
to hold the positions the Spanish gave us
We have nothing else, nor are we to have
anything else, unless we fight for it and
win it, for it now seems certain that when
we purchased Spain’s control of, and au-
thority over these islands for $20,000,000,
we purchased something that country did
not possess and which now promises to cost
us hundreds of millions more, and all the
horror of continuous war, to secure and
hold. .
Even while our representatives are con-
sidering the question of the ratification of
a treaty that was to give us these islands,
and while the advocates of expansion are
telling us of the advantages this govern-
ment has gained by their accession, the
call comes from these new possessions for
more men and more equipments of war, to
subdue a population that we were told was
praying for our success and the protection
it would insure them. And to this call the
President is preparing to respond}affirma-
tively; so that to issue that which our peo-
ple have been led to believe we already
had—the right and power to plant the
American flag in every town or on any spot
we pleased within those islands—we must
«|prepare for and carry on what may prove a
costly and cruel war, to secure and enforce
that right.
Surely the fruits of expansion are ripen-
ing for a harvest of death and disease for
our soldiers and for uncounted costs for
our people earlier than was anticipated.
And what a commentary upon our boast-
ed efforts to secure self government for
those in pretense of whose welfare we have
been waging war ?
What an illustration to the world of the
hypocrisy that begins a war, ostensibly to
assist the struggling patriots of Cuba, and
continues it in a costly and determined
effort to capture, and hold, and govern the
lands and homes of the untaught, half-civ-
ilized inhabitants of islands thousands up-
on thousands of miles distant?
The first robin of the season was seen in
Philipsburg on Monday. At least, that is,
the Journal announces it, but there are
some people over in Clearfield who would
be unkind enough to say that itjwas the
last robin of last season just leaving. They
think Philipsburg is usually about that
much behind time.
How Philadelphia Republicans Make up
Their Majority.
An illustration of the manner in which
Republican majorities are made and main-
tained in Philadelphia was furnished at the
opening of one of the ballot boxes of the
thirty-second ward of that city last week.
How the ballot box came to be re-opened
and a re-count allowed, we do not know.
It was a surprisingly unusual concession
on the part of the courts of Philadelphia,
that have always protected the rascally
election boards, by refusing to permit’ the
opening of the ballot boxes to prove the
fraud alleged, but in this instance it was
done, and with the following result: The
original return showed that 157 votes had
been cast, of which 106 were given to one
candidate and 51 to the other. The box,
when opened contained 220 regular ballots,
the re-count showing that 105 were properly
marked for the fellow who had been origi-
nally. returned as receiving 106 votes, and
115 for the one who had been given but 51
by the first official return. And this, too,
in one of the most reputable sections of
the city.
Philadelphia has over one thousand elec-
tion districts. If its election officers will
commit a crime like this in the returns
for the election of a school director, what
might be expected of them when it comes
to making up and certifiying to the vote
cast for state and other offices when the
success of political parties are at stake? A
similar fraud all over the city would aggre-
gate over sixty-four thousand votes, and
yet there are those who pretend to favor
ballot reform that would continue the pres-
ent system of voting and making returns,
and limit their reforms simply to a change
in the size of the ballot.
o——
Written for the Democratic Watchman.
MY LOST LOVE.
By WiLL TRUCKESMILLER.
The winds blow soft, and warm, and sweet,
From out the far Southwest,
Where Indian legends tell us lies
The land of peace and rest.
It stirs the yellow prairie grass,
Whispering u low refrain,
As though some spirit, hidden there,
Sighed out its secret pain.
The sea gulls circle far and near,
Uttering their strange wild cries,
Like the despairing wail of souls
Shut out of Paradise.
The low round hills look dim and far,
Through the blue September haze,
A thistle down sails slowly bye—
Sad ghost of summer days.
The little waves go rippling on
Across the silver lake,
Oh little waves! oh water bright!
Ilove you for her sake.
How oft, in happy days gone bye,
We passed along this shore;
Oh happy, careless, golden days,
Gone to return no more.
In fancy now I hear her voice,
Its chilklike, sweet surprise,
And see the love-light shine again
In her blue, wistful eyes.
I see the Dunkard bonnet, neat,
The rose buds on her breast:
The little hands that folded lie
Upon her lap, at rest.
Oh gentlest soul God ever sent
To this old world of ours;
As pure, and sweet, and innocent
As the wild prairie flowers.
Alone I sit beside the lake;
We met and loved, to part.
Ah! well, ’tis best, perhaps, some grief
Hides in each human heart.
Only the suffering can feel
For others grief and pain.
Thus are our lives wrought out for us
That we live not in vain.
The red sun sinks low in the sky,
The gray gulls seek their nest;
The light winds blow more fitfully
From out the warm Southwest.
Out of the dusky eastern sky
The evening shadows creep;
God keep thee safe, my sweet lost, love
And guard thy peaceful sleep.
The Quay Case.
From the Philadelphia Record.
The refusal of the Supreme court to issue
a writ of certiorari upon the petition of M.
8. Quay, R. R. Quay and Benjamin Hay-
wood in the case pending in the court of
quarter sessions in this city had been gen-
erally anticipated. o : *
The opinion, as written by Chief Justice
Sterrett, asserted the jurisdiction of the
Supreme court to grant the relief prayed
for by the petitioners if it had been made
clear that the power was to be exercised in
the aid of justice. Failing to satisfy the
court in this vital point, the petitioners
bad no standing. 4
The opinion sustains the jurisdiction of
the Superior court in appeals fora review
of proceedings in the quarter sessions, but
insists that the right of appeal does not ex-
ist until after conviction and sentence.
The contention of the petitioners that
they could not have a fair and impartial
trial in the courts of Philadelphia was dis-
missed by Justice Sterrett with decisive in-
timation of the contrary belief, and the as-
sertion that if the court believed the aver-
ments of the petitioners it ‘‘would not
hesitate a moment to send the indictments
to another jurisdiction for trial.”
The substance of the decision is that
while the Supreme court has jurisdiction
its interference was not asked for in aid of
the administration of justice. The court
therefore refuses to be made the vehicle of
delay.
Partial delay has been secured, but it is
clear that Senator Quay and his counsel
have made a false move. The way has
been effectively barred for his return to the
United States Senate, and a preliminary
advantage of great moment secured for the
friends of good government.
Why Art Thou Silent, William ?
From the Westmoreland Democrat.
‘When President McKinley sent his mes-
sage to Congress at the opening of the ses-
sion, it was devoid of any suggestion as to
a plan for the government of ‘“‘our colo-
nies.”” In explanation of that noticeable
silence, it was announced that it would be
imprudent to make any such recommenda-
tions while the peace commission was’ still
sitting. It was intimated, however, that
the subject would be given special consid-
eration in a supplemental message. The
views of the administration, it was gener-
ally expected, would be transmitted to
Congress in connection with the peace
treaty, but that document was sent to the
Senate, last week, without any recommenda-
tions whatever. Andrew Carnegie was un-
doubtedly justified in the declaration made
some week ago: ‘‘I began to grow doubt-
ful about the president having convictions
upon any subject.’’
“Has Got” is. Good.
From the New York Sun.
Another language-saver has launched his
boat. “Is ‘has got’ good English?”’ he
writes; ‘‘should not ‘got’ be omitted?’
For the three hundred and thirty-third and
last time we say that ‘‘has got’’ is sound,
correct English, good historically, good in
modern use, a perfectly healthy idiom.
Anybody who has scruples about the ‘‘got’’
can cut it out. Anybody who has a taste
for prunes, potatoes, prisims can learn to
break himself of the habit of saying ‘‘has
got,” if he perseveres. We seek to put no
constraint upen tender consciences. But
abstainers from ‘‘has got’’ should be warned
against being puffed up. Fresh English is
always good, but persons who like it can-
ned are welcome to take it that way.
They musn’t put on airs, though.
——1If you want fine work done of every
description the WATCHMAN is the place
to have it done.
‘on the scene.
Spawls from the Keystone.
—Snyder county Republicans will hold
their primaries on May 13th.
—Thirteen cars were smashed in a freight
train wreck on the mountain near Mainville,
Columbus county.
—Descending Locust mountain in a sleigh,
aged George Davis and wife, of Shenandoah,
were thrown on the rocks and badly injured.
—TFrightened horses ran away with a stage
coach down a steep mountain road, between
Mercersburg and McConnellsburg, and John
Seltzer, a passenger, was thrown out and
seriously hurt.
—W. S. Hoover, of Hoover & Slavin’s lum-
ber camps, near Glen Campbell, reports the
cutting of a big pine tree which was fifty-one
inches in diameter and cut 10,000 feet. The
but log measured 2,240.
—A Jackson day banquet was held Mon-
day night by the Young Men’s Democratic
club of Williamsport. Congressman Sibley,
state chairman Garman, W. U. Hensel and
James A. Stranahan were among the guests.
—Daniel Wolf, of Booneville, died Sun-
day, aged about 75 years. About a week ago
Mr. Wolf fell and struck the back of his head
on the frozen ground. The injuries caused
death. He is survived by his wife and sev-
eral children. .
—Bedford town is in darkness through the
failure of tke borough authorities to renew
the contract with the electric lighting com-
pany. An ordinance taxing polesand a suit
to recover the tax levied created strife be-
tween the authorities and the company and
prevented an agreement on the terms of the
new contract.
—The citizens of Wymps Gap, in the
mountains above Uniontown, were sur-
prised Monday to see a big buck deer tearing
down the mountain side with a pack of
hounds in pursuit. The deer dashed through
the town and along the pike to the old
Laurel Iron works, where it turned and
climbed the mountain side and was lost.
—Walter Dockard, of near Montoursville,
drove two horses to Williamsport Saturday.
While attending to business matters, the
horses frightened at the cars and started on
a gallop towards home. They twice made
the circuit of a long field near the farm and
then ran a distance on the public road when
one of the animals fell dead from exhaus-
tion.
—La grippe caused the Buffalo, Rochester
and Pittsburg railway to partly tie up its
traffic. Of the thirty-five crews who have
headquarters at DuBois, the railroad com-
pany’s physician says at least twenty-five per
cent. are down with the grip and nearly fifty
men in the car shops are similarly affected.
One physician says he attends an average of
sixty grip patients daily in that city.
—In order to awaken a deeper interest in
religious work, a committee of 1,000 persons
from the different Sabbath schools of Harris-
burg made a house to house visitation one
day last week, the object being to influence
the residents of the city to attend the dif-
ferent Sunday schools of the city. The com-
mittee was under the chairmanship of Rev.
Joseph Stockton Roddy, pastor of the Olivet
Presbyterian church.
—Within the. short period of three weeks
Mrs. J. D. McCreight, nee May Datesman, of
‘Tiock: Haven, has been a bride and widow.
{On Tuesday Dec. 20th, she was happily mar-
ried:in Lock Haven, and the newly wedded
husband and wife left on their eastern trip.
Mr. McCreight had not been feeling well
and while the couple were in Harrisburg
‘his condition became such that they returned
to the home of the gentleman’s parents in
Lewisburg. Here septic fever developed,
causing the young man’s death.
—A Patton township man lingered too long
among convivial friends in town the other
day, and on the road home ate several ba-
nanas, which had the effect of making him
very sick. He was casting up one thing and
another, at the barn, when his wife appeared
She asked him what had
made him sick, but the reply was rather in-
distinct. She made several efforts to catch
his words, and, on returning to the house,
told the children, that as nearly as she could
understand him, their father had eaten three
pianos.
—Some mischievous boy, stole silently up
to a load of straw belonging to J. L. Cyphers,
of near Duncansville, as it was being hauled
along an Altoona street Wednesday, struck a
match and applied it to the combustible con
tents of the wagon. The straw burned vigor-
ously and Cypher’s efforts to suppress the
flames availed him nothing, the flames spread-
ing themselves over the entire wagon. Fire-
men answered an alarm and directed a
plug stream onto the burning straw, ex-
tinguishing the fire before it had damaged
the wagon. Rumorists asserted that the fire
was started by a spark from Cypher’s pipe,
but he denied the story:
—A casket company of Allegheny has re-
ceived an order from the government for 400
zine-lined coffins to be shipped within thirty
days. Each coflin is to be accompanied by a
rough box. The remains of American sol-
diers who have died or were killed in battle
in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines are
to be brought back to the United States in the
coffins and will be buried by friends or by
the government in the national cemeteries.
Each coffin is to be zinc-lined and air-tight,
so thatthere will be no danger of disease
spreading through the removal of the bodies.
The caskets are to be finished in rosewood,
mahogany and oak, and will be satin-lined.
The same company recently furnished the
goverament with 1500 coffins.
—The Maddensville correspondent of the
Orbisonia Dispatch says: On Monday a party
of prospectors commenced work at what is
known as Potts’ Gap at a point on the Black-
log mountain in Springfield township for
some valuable ores. Tradition has it that
away back in bygone days the Spaniards did
find and work a silver mine in Potts’ Gap, as
there are ruins of decayed timbers where tun-
nels had been made into the mountain. A
short distance from this point a year or so
ago some men found a mine of anthracite
coal, but owing to the water coming in upon
them, they abandoned the work. Just re-
cently a mineral resembling copper was dis-
covered on the farm of Elmer Ramsey. It
is no longer doubted that this locality is rich
in mineral deposits and only needs a railroad
through it to bring its mineral resources
prominently before the capitalists of this
great country.
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